GGPoker rake massive increases - High Stakes community mass boycott

As of today, the High Stakes community will boycott 25/50+ games on GGpoker.
Ninety percent of the highest volume players at these stakes have already committed to the boycott.

GG rake historically has been far higher than the industry standard.
But it has gained a large amount of High Stakes action, due to game liquidity and the amount of recreational players playing on the network.

Particularly at 25/50, even with the old rake structure there, were a lot of unbeatable games and seats running.
The new rake structure has almost doubled, and will make the vast majority of 5k and 10k games impossible to beat, and make any battling between professionals completely unfeasible.

How much has the rake increased?

Why should you care?
When playing poker, we all do our best to win. In the new GG playing environment, that is virtually impossible.
It is no longer a game that involves skill and some luck, but instead has become more of a casino game.

Without High Stakes poker running, GG will also lose many customers who are currently playing lower stakes tables, hoping to win and play at High Stakes.
Instead, they may be find other networks on which the High Stakes dream can be achieved.

Assuming equal edge between all regulars, a recreational needs to lose 42.5 bb/100 for the average seat to break even!
The types of recreationals with these losing rates are rare.

In 3-handed battles, it’s impossible for even the most confident player to delude themselves that they can be winning, given the sheer volume of money leaving the table.

Furthermore, GG advertises very high rake back, which is supposed to offset the rake.
With up to 60% being offered in the client, these numbers are misleading and generally false.
We have contacted multiple players to check their rake back numbers.
Some players receive as little as 10%, and no winner receives more than 20%, due to the untransparant PVI system.
We should note that ACR, the main competitor gives 40% real rake back, after charging far less rake to begin with.

Why should GG care?
GG poker is within their rights to set the pricing to their games however they desire.
Prior to any organized action, they can see that there are no more heads-up matches or battles in the lobby whatsoever, and the volume of games, and empty seats with recreationals, has decreased dramatically.

Quite simply, they have pushed the rake to a level where professionals are aware that they cannot win. As a result, the volume of raked hands will significantly decrease, and recreational players will not have anybody to play against.
GGpoker will generate less revenue and action will move to other networks.

As a case study, one member of the High Stakes community raked 600k last year, battling all comers 3 handed and heads up.
This player has since moved all his action away from GG, calculating that less than 20% of his action last year would be in beatable games, under the new rake structure.

The High Stakes community is far more connected than it has ever been, as players attempt to work together to combat different threats to the game.
This boycott will showcase the negative effects of their changes quickly, so we can move back to a more sustainable equilibrium.

What do we want?
Our goal is to communicate with GG, and build a sustainable long term playing environment.
An environment in which it is possible for players to win money and enjoy themselves, as the network continues to generate enough revenue to profit.

We, a group of ninety long term High Stakes players on GGpoker, would like a far more reasonable and beatable rake structure, and transparent rake back, so players can make educated decisions about whether they would like to play.

If other networks would like to take advantage of these recent changes, we are more than happy to communicate with you about moving where we play.
We are a growing group of currently ninety players, including well known players.

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We understand that it is tempting to capture short term EV in soft games, but we will be better off playing with lower rake, and not being subject to further increases in the future.
If you see a friend continue to play 25/50+, please send that person a friendly message about the new rake structure, and ask them to support us. Thanks for the help.

If anyone at GG would like to talk to us, they can contact us via pm here, and we will you to our discord chat.